Related Stories

Kicking back to watch a TV show or play a video game may not be the best way to relax and decompress, a new European study has found.

People with high stress levels at work who then watched TV or played video games didn't feel relaxed or recovered. Instead they felt high levels of guilt and feelings of failure, the study found.

The researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany and VU University in Amsterdam surveyed 471 people about how they felt at work and what media they used. They found people who were tired after work were more likely to watch TV or play video games as a form of procrastination, which led to feelings of guilt.

"In times of smartphones and mobile Internet, the ubiquitous availability of content and communication often seems to be a burden and a stressor rather than a recovery resource," researcher Leonard Reinecke said.